In a surprising development out of San Francisco Giants camp, long time Giant manager, Bruce Bochy, announced that 2019 will be his last season. Bochy has managed the Giants since 2007.

He enters his final season 11th all time in wins with 1926 and the ten men ahead of him are all in the Hall of Fame. Some are not surprised at his decision as he is entering the final year of his contract and will also be playing for a new head of baseball operations in Farhan Zaidi.

Bruce Bochy. 63, began his managerial career with the San Diego Padres in 1995. In his rookie year as skipper he took a 47-win team in 1994 to a a 70-win team. In 1996, he led the Padres to a 91-71 record and a NL West division title earning him the National League Manager of the Year and the Sporting News National League Manager of the year honors. It was only the second division title in franchise history.

The 1998 series was his most distinguished as Padres’ manager as he guided San Diego to an 98 win season and the NL pennant, only the second pennant in team history. The Padres were swept in the World Series by the Yankees in 1998.

After the World Series, the Padres dramatically cut payroll leading to five straight losing seasons. The Padres returned to prominence in the 2005 and 2006 campaigns as they won consecutive NL West titles for the first time in franchise history. Bochy would leave the Padres for the San Francisco Giants after the 2006 season. In 12 seasons under Bochy the Padres, a team known for constant losing, had five winning seasons, four NL West titles and one pennant.

Bochy replaced Felipe Alou and became the Giants’ manager on October 27, 2006. His tenure started slowly with two losing seasons before an 88 win campaign in 2009. In 2010, the Giants won 92 games and their first NL west division crown since 2003. They beat the Altlanta Braves in the NLDS before defeating the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.

His “bunch of castoffs and misfits” as they were affectionately known as, completed the magical year by defeating the Texas Rangers in five games to win the first World Series for the franchise since 1954 when the Giants were still in New York.

The Giants missed the playoffs in 2011 but won 94 games in 2012 clinching their second NL West title in three years. The Giants fell behind both the Cincinnati Reds on the ALDS and the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS before rallying to win both series, The climax of the season was a sweep of the heavily favored Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Bochy was a wizard and mixing and matching pitchers in the 2012 playoffs, using starter Tim Lincecum in a memorable bullpen role as an example.

The Giants also won the World Series in 2014 defeating the Kansas City Royals in seven games, giving Bochy and the Giants three championships in five years. In this back and forth series, Bochy used Madison Bumgarner in the fifth inning of game seven and left him in for the rest of the series clinching victory. Bochy became only the tenth manager in MLB history to win three championships. The other nine managers are all in the Hall of Fame.

The Giants also made the playoffs as a wild-card in 2016. After defeating the New York Mets in the wild-card game, the Giants lost the NLDS to the Chicaco Cubs. It was the first post-season series loss for Bochy as manager of the Giants.

On April 10, 2017 in the Giants’ home owner, San Francisco defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1. The win vaulted Bochy over Dusty Baker as the all-time winningest manager of the Giants in the San Francisco era with 861. On May 3, 2017, Bochy became the 15th manager with 1800 wins. On July 29, 2019, Bochy surpassed Casey Stengel into 11th place on the all-time win list.

Bruce Bochy won four pennants and three World Series in his illustrious career. He is widely regarded as one of the finest managers in recent baseball memory. He will retire under his own terms after one last go-around with the Giants. We wish him well in his future endeavors.